army partnered with a upcoming Hollywood movie to change audience perception of the organisation and increase its recruitment numbers.

Popular culture was depicting the Army as an out dated and low-tech institution, creating a disconnect between reality and perception that affects recruitment numbers.

The Army worked closely with the writers and producers of Independence Day: Resurgence, the blockbuster movie, to create the backstory of how the Army helped prepare the world for the next alien invasion during the time between the original Independence Day, which came out in 1996, and 2016's Independence Day Resurgence.

The campaign released teaser TV spots, and trailers spread across TV, cinema, digital and social, alongside media appearances, and an online recruitment game for users to unlock exclusive content.

While the campaign aired, the Army had an increase of +197% of people contacting a recruiter via its website.

This case study demonstrates how reframing the Royal Navy in the UK improved recruitment of engineers.

The Royal Navy requires a huge number of engineers, making up almost half of personnel, but competition for eligible candidates is fierce and two thirds of the audience actively reject the Armed Forces.

Research found that while potential engineers were excited about engineering and mechanically curious, they felt too distant from the scale of the Royal Navy's equipment, which comprised of submarines, helicopters and missile systems.

To help young people bridge the gap, creative explained that if they can fix more familiar vehicles like a bike or a car, then they can also learn to fix the bigger equipment of the Royal Navy.

The campaign grew 'expressions of interest' by 10 times compared to the previous three years.

This case study describes how the Vancouver Police Foundation, a charity in Canada, raised its profile with people aged 18-34 with a campaign that sought donations in return for 'cool', police-style sunglasses.

This case study describes how the Vancouver Police Foundation, a charity in Canada, raised its profile with people aged 18-34 with a campaign that sought donations in return for 'cool', police-style sunglasses.

The Vancouver Police Foundation provides financial support for projects outside of the minimum operating budget for the police to provide security, such as community outreach.

There was very low awareness of the foundation and its activities, with most donations made by older people or corporations, and lots of competition from other charities.

The campaign built on childhood dreams of becoming police officers by providing branded aviator style sunglasses, that represented the police, in return for donations.

This had the dual impact of raising money for Vancouver Police Foundation (over $152,000 during the campaign and $2m at a gala afterwards) and showed the police that they were appreciated.

This case study explains how Dubai Police introduced a fleet of supercars to help raise Dubai's profile and reduce the amount of traffic offences.

Dubai is known internationally for its tallest, its biggest and its fastest – but on the downside, it is also known for one of the highest rates of traffic violations, and its real estate and debt crises.

Dubai Police was chosen to strengthen Dubai's international brand image, seeking to be seen as a modern crime-fighting unit and reduce road rage violations.

It introduced the world's first Supercop Cars: super-powered, super-fast and super-cool, promoted primarily through social media, the cars had a striking design, stylish new colours and an exclusive Arabic font.

The cars took over Dubai, and Dubai Police became world famous, with millions of dollars in earned media as it was featured across popular international media platforms such as CNN, the BBC, Bloomberg, Top Gear, Daily Mail, Beverly Hills Magazine, Yahoo!, CNBC and more.

The Supercop Car was also voted 'Car of the Year' and 'Best Supercar' at the Middle East Motor Awards – and traffic violations in Dubai were reduced by 5.3%.

This case study describes how the US Navy used a video-based campaign to engage young people and raise awareness of job opportunities within the Navy.

The Navy wanted to harness simultaneous second screen use and TV viewing to raise awareness of the job opportunities it could offer and keep the brand relevant – but gaining the undivided attention of its target – millennials – was becoming increasingly difficult.

It took a three-pronged approach using video content millennials would consider 'cool' in a second-screen story sync app Walking the Dead, an integration with Xbox Live and the launch of Halo 4, and a Shazam-enabled campaign at the Super Bowl.

The buzz generated has allowed the US Navy to integrate itself into popular culture and meet its recruitment goals for an unprecedented 132 consecutive months.

This case study explains how Defence Force Recruiting, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment organisation, encouraged women aged 16-30 to join the air force by facilitating conversations between serving women and people who were interested in enlisting.

This case study explains how Defence Force Recruiting, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) recruitment organisation, encouraged women aged 16-30 to join the air force by facilitating conversations between serving women and people who were interested in enlisting.

The ADF wanted to increase the number of women to 20% but had to overcome poor perceptions following a series of scandals and difficulties for women's careers in the military.

Research uncovered what young women want from their careers, how they feel about their environments and what holds them back from joining the military.

The campaign sought to start conversations about the Air Force, so used a TV ad featuring a woman talking about her role to direct people to a microsite.

The microsite hosted a variety of content about the lifestyles of real women in the force, and Facebook chats, webinars and YouTube videos allowed women who were interested to talk to serving Air Force women.

Objectives for perception and key take-outs were met, leading to a 55% uplift in the enquiry rate for women, and a consistently greater share of enquiries being made by women than previously.

This case study describes how Danish Defence, the country's armed forces, developed a mobile fitness app targeting young people, with the aims of changing perceptions of the organisation and improving the fitness of new recruits and existing soldiers.

This case study describes how Danish Defence, the country's armed forces, developed a mobile fitness app targeting young people, with the aims of changing perceptions of the organisation and improving the fitness of new recruits and existing soldiers.

The app was used to communicate the brand message and to gain permission from users for further email contact, which would be used for recruitment purposes.

A key barrier to recruitment was an unfavourable perception of military training, so this approach demonstrated the organisation's actual approach to training.

The app was promoted through television, outdoor and online ads which used the stories of existing recruits to create a more personal connection with the target group.

The app significantly exceeded the target number of permissions for further email contact, raised awareness of the organisation, and generated press coverage.

15

NZ Police: Increasing the diversity of NZ Police

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

The Communication Agencies Association of New Zealand, Gold, New Zealand Effie Awards, 2013

This case study describes a campaign by the New Zealand Police which successfully increased the diversity of new recruits, with a decreased marketing budget, by commissioning creative street art installations.

This case study describes a campaign by the New Zealand Police which successfully increased the diversity of new recruits, with a decreased marketing budget, by commissioning creative street art installations.

The art installations were created in areas visited by the target groups and depicted stories of police intervention that each target group could relate to.

Each story explained the role of the police officer in helping others, and showed that becoming a police officer did not mean changing their identity.

There was a launch event with media for each art installation which included interviews with police role models.

The theme was continued in ads on television, radio, and in cinemas, with support from social media: all channels drove people to a mobile optimised website.

16

Swedish Armed Forces: Who Cares?

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Cannes Creative Lions, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2013

This recruitment campaign sought to change the perception of The Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) which, after the end conscription in 2010, needed to attract a target group of slightly older "World Improvers" (20-25 males and females), to augment its traditional target of younger "Adventure Seekers" (18-21 males). View Summary

This recruitment campaign sought to change the perception of The Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) which, after the end conscription in 2010, needed to attract a target group of slightly older "World Improvers" (20-25 males and females), to augment its traditional target of younger "Adventure Seekers" (18-21 males). A previous campaign had started to evolve SAF's messaging with the concept of "Welcome to our reality". This was further evolved by the new campaign, via the strategy "Who cares?", to appeal to the more female "World Improver" target. This was brought to life by a four-day experiential event in central Stockholm, that was leveraged via paid and owned media. At the end of the campaign, 9,932 applications had been received, 132% above the target. The percentage of female applicants was 21% (compared to the 14% average of the previous three campaigns).

17

Programme of Humanitarian Attention to the Demobilised: Operation Rivers Of Light

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Cannes Creative Lions, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2013

This case is about Colombia's struggle against the world's oldest guerrilla group, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC. View Summary

This case is about Colombia's struggle against the world's oldest guerrilla group, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC. Operation RIVERS OF LIGHT took Christmas to the heart of FARC's jungle strongholds, using the country's rivers to 'share' a message from loved ones. Two professional anti-guerrilla contingents, 7,000 LED capsules, four piranha boats and a Black Hawk helicopter entered the jungle to deliver family messages and gifts inside lighted waterproof capsules, with river currents taking the capsules to the guerrilla camps. Within every ball, there was a demobilising message. This campaign encouraged 194 FARC guerrillas to demobilise, and redefined how communications channels can be utilised to give hope to all those immersed in the conflict of war.

This case is about Colombia's struggle against the world's oldest guerrilla group, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC. View Summary

This case is about Colombia's struggle against the world's oldest guerrilla group, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC. Operation RIVERS OF LIGHT took Christmas to the heart of FARC's jungle strongholds, using the country's rivers to 'share' a message from loved ones. Two professional anti-guerrilla contingents, 7,000 LED capsules, four piranha boats and a Black Hawk helicopter entered the jungle to deliver family messages and gifts inside lighted waterproof capsules, with river currents taking the capsules to the guerrilla camps. Within every ball, there was a demobilising message. This campaign encouraged 194 FARC guerrillas to demobilise, and redefined how communications channels can be utilised to give hope to all those immersed in the conflict of war.

19

Metropolitan Police: The case in defence of Deon

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Ila De Mello Kamath, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, Gold, Best Demonstration of Consumer Partcipation, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards, 2012

'Who Killed Deon?' was designed to help tackle youth violence in the UK by educating disenfranchised teenagers about a legal principle known as joint enterprise.

This case describes research by the US Marines Corps (USMC) to formulate its positioning for a new generation of young Americans, who were more inclined to see aspirational "service" as working in communities to help others, rather than fighting for one's country.

This case describes research by the US Marines Corps (USMC) to formulate its positioning for a new generation of young Americans, who were more inclined to see aspirational "service" as working in communities to help others, rather than fighting for one's country.

Analysis showed USMC recruits becoming increasingly concentrated within America's racially homogenous heartland (dubbed the "Rambo" group) and less from the multi-cultural regions of its cosmopolitan coasts where young people's attitudes to service had changed (dubbed the "Bono" group).

The research challenge was twofold: to test if the varied tasks of the modern Marine (from traditional combat to humanitarian assistance) resonated with the idea of service held by youths in the "Bono" cluster, and to see if this could be leveraged without alienating the "Rambo" cluster or diminishing the Marines' "elite warrior" brand.

Segmentation produced seven "tribes" of 16-24-year-old Millennials, whose attitudes to the USMC's hard power (traditional fighting) and soft power (support and assistance) roles were tested.

The research found that all respondents were generally supportive of both hard power and soft power concepts and even those more in favour of soft power did not reject hard power, a finding which enabled targeting messaging within a subsequent recruitment campaign.

21

The Defence Recruitment Branch (DRB): Be an officer - in The Danish Defence

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Direct Marketing Association - US, Silver, ECHO Awards, 2012

The Danish armed forces needed to gain new recruits to its officer education scheme. But young Danes lacked awareness about the career opportunities offered by the scheme, instead believing that a military career is about robot-like discipline. View Summary

The Danish armed forces needed to gain new recruits to its officer education scheme. But young Danes lacked awareness about the career opportunities offered by the scheme, instead believing that a military career is about robot-like discipline. The campaign was based around a website offering "The Officer's Test", which pointed out the academic rigour of the scheme to users. The campaign integrated social media, TV, outdoor, banners, posters, flyers, emails, text messages and Facebook to gain traffic to the campaign website. In all, the website received almost 80,000 visitors; there were also 874 applications to become an officer.

22

United States Navy: Women in the Navy (re)defined

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Direct Marketing Association - US, Silver, ECHO Awards, 2012

This recruitment campaign from the US Navy targeted a female audience, and sought to increase awareness and change perceptions of naval careers, and generate leads for recruiters. View Summary

This recruitment campaign from the US Navy targeted a female audience, and sought to increase awareness and change perceptions of naval careers, and generate leads for recruiters. A range of channels were used to allow respondents to engage on their terms, and included direct mail and business reply cards, email, a website and QR codes. Creative capitalized on the notion that strong, active women are looking to make a difference in a challenging environment and have a multitude of opportunities available to them in America's Navy. From the leads generated, Navy recruiters were able to achieve their female recruiting goal for 2011.

23

The London Metropolitan Police: Who Killed Deon?

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

Cannes Creative Lions, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2012

To help the Metropolitan Police, London's police force, tackle youth violence, awareness needed to be raised of a complicated legal principle known as Joint Enterprise, which meant that if you were connected to or have knowledge of a crime you could be charged by police. View Summary

To help the Metropolitan Police, London's police force, tackle youth violence, awareness needed to be raised of a complicated legal principle known as Joint Enterprise, which meant that if you were connected to or have knowledge of a crime you could be charged by police. To raise awareness of this issue, 13-15 year olds were involved as consultants, co-creators and critics, all of whom had knowledge of guns and knives but were articulate, frank and willing to help. This led to an interactive murder mystery, based on Facebook, set up by outdoor, display and viral seeding elements, that challenged people to work out "Who killed Deon?" from six suspects: four ended with the explanation that the character did not kill Deon but was charged with murder under Joint Enterprise because of his role. After the launch phase, all the people who had 'liked' the film were re-contacted, and prompted with provocative questions about Joint Enterprise to keep the debate alive. This resulted in 135,371 unique visitors to the campaign website, of which 59% understood that "You can be charged with murder even if you didn't actually kill someone" and 41% agreed "Don't get involved with weapons/ guns/ knives".

24

U.S. Marine Corps: Where I'm From

Includes video content

Recommended by Warc editors

Trends

Best Practice

ARF Ogilvy Awards, Silver, Multicultural, 2012

In 2010 the United States Marine Corps (USMC) announced an objective of recruiting an increased number of African Americans and Hispanics in order to create "face of the nation" representation. View Summary

In 2010 the United States Marine Corps (USMC) announced an objective of recruiting an increased number of African Americans and Hispanics in order to create "face of the nation" representation. In order to do so it needed to attract the attention of 17 to 24-year-olds and their influencers: parents, coaches and teachers. The primary challenge was to engage the target audience, boost brand affinity and drive aspiration. Black History Month was chosen to activate the Where I'm From campaign, highlighting the achievements of African Americans within the USMC and communicating the Marines commitment to all communities in America. Awareness was achieved through targeted TV, radio and print advertising, which included calls to action driving users to online touchpoints. The campaign successfully generated engagement with nearly 50% of the audience taking action after seeing or hearing the ads.

The local police of the city of Antwerp in Belgium wanted to improve traffic safety by encouraging drivers to respect speed limits. View Summary

The local police of the city of Antwerp in Belgium wanted to improve traffic safety by encouraging drivers to respect speed limits. The campaign empowered Antwep citizens to spread the message themselves by using large 'thank you for not speeding' signs which could be attached to their house. The signs could be picked up from designated areas or reserved online. These signs could also be personalised with your family's names, street or community and no logos were printed to add to its sincerity. Over 10,000 signs were handed out and their sudden appearance ensured coverage in the national news. Over 98% of citizens asked remembered the campaign and 39% of drivers claimed they paid more attention to keep to the speed limit after seeing the signs.